Trooper
by penultimate-lifeform
Summary: A group of koopas loyal to Bowser attack a lonely, secluded Toad Town, but there's one thing that they don't count on... R&R please!
1. The Beginning

DISCLAIMER: Put it this way, I own nothing in this fic that Nintendo owns... 'k?  
  
This is the story of a koopa troopa, named Kappy, who is involved in the raid of a small Toad-inhabitated town in a particularly barren part of Mushroom Kingdom. Predictably enough, things start going not... quite... to plan.  
  
R&R with constructive feedback, please.  
  
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The sky had begun to turn a dusky orange by the time the town began to come into sight, and all of them were exhausted. It had been necessary to fly in their zepplin (a form of transport which was still relatively new to the Koopa army) from the south-east, so that they were not spotted by any other towns, but they were unable to land anywhere nearby, since the town was surrounded by forest which was impossible to come down onto, and therefore they had had to land on the outskirts and march the rest of the way. Now that they could see the town, the seargent leading them turned around and told them to stop. For the first time that day, they were glad for the camping equipment which they had had strapped onto their shells all day, and immediately they went to work setting it up. The seargent just watched, the evening sun gleaming on his red shell, which he had obviously spent a good time polishing recently. The first few to finish scuttled off and began to find wood for a fire. It was autumn, so it was easy to find dry, leafless branches to snap of trees, and so this process did not take very long.  
  
Finally, they were all huddled around the fire. By this time only a sliver of sun was still visable over the horizen, and the sky was in that most dramatic stage of yellow in front and dark blue behind, with stunning arrays of clouds. Most of the troopers, however, were looking down, silently absorbing the warmth of the fire, as although it was only early autumn, the chill of winter had already set in, and many were not unaccustomed to wiping the frost off their shells each morning.  
  
"Whenna we gonna eat? I'm starved." said one of them, loudly. His name was Scatty, and although nobody could remember where he had picked up this particular nickname, or even what it meant, most, including he himself, agreed that it fitted him.  
  
"We'll eat when I say." said the Sarge, annoyed that he would now have to put off eating for an extra half-hour or so, so that it wouldn't seem that he had given into Scatty. They once again lapsed into silence.  
  
After they had eaten, they each returned to their tents and began to prepare to go to sleep that night, although many would find it difficult. None of them, excpet the Sarge, had been in many battles like the one which would take place tomorrow, and they were all very nervous. Eventually they were all in their sleeping bags, shells by their sides, and a couple of them had even managed to get to sleep. Some had closed their eyes and were trying to keep their heads empty of thoughts, others were just staring up at the top of their tents as if in shock.  
  
Outside, the last few embers of the fire began to die out.  
  
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Okay, obviously that was just a quick intro, there'll be more soon, and you'll learn more about the characters (at least, you will as soon as I do!), and eventually the fateful attack on the as-yet unnamed town will take place. Please R&R now, constructive feedback only, please! 


	2. The preparation

Chapter 2 time! Or... er... chapter 1....  
  
Whatever.  
  
Anyway, I finally get round to actually naming things and people, and using the third person singular! Yay?  
  
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Kappy did woke not with a start, but with an odd abruptness, going from unconsciousness to fully awake in a few seconds. He sat up straight and glanced at the clock which he had brought with him, and saw that he had woken 20 minutes before the alarm was to go off. He sat for five more minutes absorbing the relative warmth of his sleeping bag, before finally forcing himself to get up and put his shell on.  
  
He made his way outside, then wandered to the fire, which was already lit. Only two others were there, the Sarge and Kort. Sarge was frowning and looking pre-occupied, while Kort was leaning against a large root with a somewhat bored, almost amused expression, and staring into the flames. Kort was the group's Paratrooper, and commanded much more respect from the group than the Sarge, although he was officially ranked below him. It has been said that it is impossible for a paratrooper to fly with any grace, but Kort moved from walking to flying with an easy fluidity which is nonexistant in any other creature. He managed to both involve himself with each other member of the group and to stay on a level above their squabbles and fall-outs. In many an important decision or long lasting debate, Kort's word had been final.  
  
As Kappy approached, Kort looked up and smiled casually.  
  
"Hey Kappy," he greeted, lazily "The others'll be awake soon."  
  
"Woke up early." Kappy replied, his own voice sounding foreign to him "Thought I might as well come out here."  
  
"I've gotta go soon anyway. Scouting." Kort nodded his head in the direction of the town "Meant to take a look while they're all still asleep." He turned to face the Sarge and added "It'll be a bit of a gamble."  
  
"You've got through worse, Kort." The Sarge said without turning. They lapsed into silence.  
  
A few minutes later, Lemmy (a fairly standard Koopa name, glorified by the Koopaling who possessed it), stiffly emerged from his tent, and quickly scrambled over to the warmth of the fire.   
  
"Ugh, couldn'ta picked a better day for it, eh?" he said, unsmiling "Wasn't it kind of our officers to plan an attack in the middle of bloody Winter?" When nobody replied he added "Autumn, that is."  
  
"'M sure it'll warm up." Kort murmured, then drifted back into his thoughts.  
  
"We eatin' then, or what?" Lemmy asked, after a while.  
  
"We're wating for the others." The Sarge replied.  
  
A few moments later, Scatty appeared from within his tent, apparently unaffected by the cold. He nodded at Kappy and Kort, then took a place relatively near the Sarge.  
  
"Fine morning!" he exlaimed, with a sarcastic cheerfulness "Yes, I poked my head outside and though 'Ah, what a fine morning to kill some Toadies'. And indeed it is." he waited for a moment, not really expecting anything to be said, then went on. "So then, Sarge, what's for breakfast? Can't attack on an empty stomach. Dulls the reflexes, so I've heard, and it can't be good for the ol' stabbing muscles, can it now?"  
  
"We're eating rations when the others get up." the Sarge answered dully. He was used to Scatty's overly-verbose, sarcastic ramblings.  
  
"Good, good. Yes, good indeed. One of the first things we learnt when doing fitness training was 'never exert yourself on an empty stomach'. Seems sensible to me." Kappy guessed that this fitness training had never actually existed. "O' course, you're not really meant to exert yourself in this kinda weather, are you? Wouldn't want to get pneumonia. Ah, but I guess we'll have to put up with it, for the good of the Army. A fine cause to lose a couple o' fingers to if ever there was one."  
  
During this ramble, Kalkus had left his tent and wandered over to the fire slowly. He had been particularly quiet as they had travelled to the toad town, and it seemed that he was the one worst affected by fear.  
  
"Ah, Kalky, my old chum," Scatty continued seamlessly from his last topic "Pull up a twig. The fire's warm, the sky's blue, and any second now we're going to be served some fine, traditional dried offal! Life couldn't be better!" Kappy noticed that Scatty hadn't mentioned the attack, and was glad.  
  
"Mmm, thanks." Kalkus muttered, and sat down, apparently not noticing Scatty's sarcasm. Scatty leaned back further, delighted.  
  
"I should go." Kort said. He began moving his wings and unfolding at the same time, so that by the time he was fully stood up he was alredy hovering a foot above the ground.  
  
"You're not going to join us in this joyous breakfasting experience?" Scatty inquired, a look of genuine concern painted on his face.  
  
"Already eaten." Kort replied, still hovering, a slight smile on his face. Scatty was even more talkative than usual. It was nerves, he decided.  
  
"Oh, I see. Was it good? Any goombnut puddings? Koopa leaf salad? Plump melons plucked from the Yoshi Island and air-lifted to our location?"  
  
"Offal." said Kort, simply.  
  
"Bowser didn't even bake us a cake?" Scatty looked disappointed and hurt.  
  
"It's not too dry, if that helps." Kort finished, and took off properly, in the direction of the village.  
  
"Well that's okay then. As any prime chef will tell you, damp offal is far better than any melon from yoshi's island. It contains a hundred and twenty percent of your recommended daily allowance of entrails, and my doctor is always complaining about the low entrail levels in my blood."  
  
Over the next twenty minutes, the rest of the Koopas gathered around the fire, and they began eating their rations, which could well have been offal, or in fact anything. Finally, Kort returned.  
  
"I don't think I was spotted." he reported to the Sarge, allowing everybosy else to hear. "It's not very large, perhaps a mile in each direction. There are three surrounding farms, too, but if we enter from the angle we're at, we won't hit any of them. Everybody's pretty much asleep or getting up, but they'll probably be properly up by the time we arrive."  
  
"Okay. Good, good." The Sarge said, after a moment's thought "It could have been much worse."  
  
"Excellent!" Scatty cheered "Before we set off, could we have an inspirtational speech, Sarge?" he narrowly avoided saying 'sargey' "Y'know, one of those ones about fighting for king and country, and about how mass fungicide will bring eternal kindness and love to our home towns, and how if we happen to bump into, and then kill, anybody important we may be rewarded with a different coloured shell? I love those speeches! Or we could just tell Toad jokes, like 'What's the difference between a Koopa and a Toad? One has children, the other has spores." He clutched himself in mock laughter "Yes, I think a fine speech to get the adrenaline flowing and the heart racing is what's called for now!"  
  
"Perhaps later." The Sarge said, through clenched teeth.  
  
"I knew you'd provide leadership for us in times of worry!"  
  
After that exchange, they began to repack their tents, equipment, and any belongings that they brought with them, and within half an hour, they were ready to set off for the town.  
  
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Okay, well that was chapter 2. I introduced a few other characters there. If Scatty's annoying you, don't worry, I'll try to shut him up a bit. He's annoying me too. You may have realised that I've decided not to name the Sarge. Next chapter I'll finish off character introductions, bring them much nearer to the town, and focus the plot much more on Kappy.   
  
Any extra comments based on this chapter or the entire storyline? You know what I'm going to say: R&R! Please! It really helps me keep on writing. 


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